Diving board



United States Patent 1 2,847,218 DIVING BOARD Dirk Jan Gerritsen,Boekelo, Netherlands Application March 9, 1955, Serial No. 493,195Claims priority, application Netherlands March 10, 1954 2 Claims. (Cl.27266) The present invention relates to an improved diving board for usein swimming pools. As a rule the rear end of such boards is eitherclamped in in a fixed support or is mounted for pivoting about ahorizontal axis, the latter arrangement being preferred because in thatcase a higher degree of bending is obtained per unit of load when thediving board is in use.

In the case of pivotal attachment of the diving board at its rear end ithas always been the practice to have the axis of the pivot extend in or.somewhat beneath the plane of the board, which, howeverjresnlts in thefact, that the board upon each bending operation performs a slidingmovement with respect to the member supporting the diving board in apoint intermediate its ends. This not only causes loss of energy, butparticularly undue wear at this region.

The present invention has for its object to do away with the cause ofthis drawback, that is the occurrence of such sliding movement of theboard with respect to the supporting member above referred to.

According to the invention, this object has been attained by arrangingthe pivotal axis of the rear end of the diving board above the plane ofthe board, thereby eliminating the rearward sliding movement of theboard over the supporting member on account of it being compensated by aforward movement of the rear extremity of the diving board.

Accordingly the invention consists of a diving board comprising meansfor supporting said board intermediate its ends and having its rear endarranged for pivoting about a transverse axis extending in a plane abovethe general plane of the diving board.

The invention will be hereinafter further described with reference tothe accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of a structuralembodiment of a diving board according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational View thereof, whilst Fig. 3diagrammatically shows the effect of the particular arrangement of thepivotal axis of the diving board upon the board being bent under a loadacting in or near its freely projecting forward end, so as the weight orthe impact of the person using the board.

Fig. 4 shows at an enlarged scale a rear end view of the board, thesupporting member being omitted.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the numeral 1 represents the actual divingboard, usually having a width of say 50 cm., an overall length of say480 cm. and a maximum thickness of say 6.5 cm. the lower side of theboard gradually tapering towards its extremities to a thickness of about3 cm.

Intermediate its two ends, the diving board 1 is supported by atransverse member 2 preferably of rubber extending beneath the board andmounted in suitable supports (not shown) on either side of the board.

As shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 4 the rear end of the board 1 issecured between two spaced strips 3 formed integrally with twoupstanding lugs 4 each provided near its upper end with a trunnion 5outwardly extending from said lug and mounted for rocking movement in afixed upright 6 such uprights being arranged on either side of the boardupon a suitable support (not shown) by means of flanges 7 at their lowerends and bolts 8. To prevent lateral displacement of the board withrespect to said stands 6, each trunnion 5 is provided with a flange ordisc 9 detachably secured to the 2,847,218 Patented Aug. 12, 1958 outerend face of said trunnion or by a screw 10 passing through an opening 11in said flange and engaging a screw-threaded bore 12 centrally formed insaid trunnion, such screw having a head 13 engaging the outer face ofthe flange.

From this description it will be realized, that according to theinvention the rear end of the diving board is arranged for pivotalmovement about a transverse axis located above the plane of the boardthe distance from such axis to the upper face of the board being forinstance about 3-7 cm. and preferably 5 cm. in the case of a boardhaving a width of about 50 cm. as assumed above.

The effect of this novel arrangement of the pivotal axis of the rear endof the diving board is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 3, the essentialparts being indicated with the same reference characters as in theremaining figures.

From this diagrammatic figure it can be clearly ascertained that anytime the board 1 is bent about the support 2 as a fulcrum (dottedlines), the rear extremity of the board is moved forward by reason ofthe lugs 4 rocking about the axes of the trunnions 5, to therebycompensate any rearward movement of the board with respect to the pointof engagement with the support 2, so that at this point no slidingmovement and therefore no additional wear will occur.

It will be understood, that the invention is not limited to theparticular construction or dimensions of the diving board and itsassociated parts as above described and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing and that such details may be varied in many respects withoutdeparting from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A resilient diving board attached at its rear end by means of alinkage, having its axis loosely supported at the mid-section of theboard by means of a fulcrum, said board being characterized by the factthat the change of length between said fulcrum and the rear end of the'board as caused by the deflection of the board is compensated for by aforward motion of the rear end of the board by the provision of a pairof parallel upstandving lugs, provided on the board and outwardlyprojecting trunnions mounted on said lugs in a line above the generalplane of the board, said trunnions being pivotally supported by astationary structure at the rear end of the board, said stationarystructure comprising uprights arranged on either side of the divingboard adjacent the rear thereof and having said trunnions mountedadjacent said uprights and with the rear end of said board pivotallysuspended therefrom.

2. A resilient diving board attached at its rear end by means of alinkage, having its axis loosely supported at the mid-section of theboard by means of a fulcrum, said board being characterized by the factthat the change of length between said fulcrum and the rear end of theboard as caused by the deflection of the board is compensated for by aforward motion of the rear end of the board by the provision of a pairof parallel upstanding lugs, provided on the board and outwardly projecting trunnions mounted on said lugs in line above the general planeof the board, a stationary structure comprising rigid uprights arrangedon either side of the diving board adjacent the rear end thereof, saidtrunnions being pivotally mounted in said uprights with the rear end ofthe board pivotally suspended therefrom by means of said lugs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

